A number of popular types of food generally take the form of pockets formed from dough that are stuffed with a variety of other food stuffings. Among these are pierogi, ravioli, pot-stickers, knedle, piroshki, calzones, empanadas and various other dumplings and similar types of food. The food stuffings employed in these pockets can vary widely, from cheese or meat stuffings to potato-onion, sauerkraut, mushroom, spinach, and other vegetable or fruit stuffings.
Typically, the pockets are formed by preparing a relatively thin sheet of dough, cutting out a limited section of the dough, placing some food stuffing near the center of the section of dough, wrapping the dough about the food stuffing, and attaching edges of the dough being wrapped around the food stuffing to one another in such a manner that the food stuffing is contained within the pocket. In some cases, the pockets are formed by securing multiple sections of dough to one another around the food stuffing. In further cases, it can be appropriate to start with a preformed pocket or even simply a blob of dough, and then to insert or inject food stuffing into that pocket or into a cavity that exists (or develops, due to the injection process) within the dough.
Once the pockets are formed, they can then further be refrigerated, frozen or otherwise stored for later use, or finally prepared for eating. Final preparation for eating typically involves cooking the dough with the stuffing inside the dough pocket. Typically, the pockets are finally prepared for eating in one of two ways, namely, by frying or boiling/steaming (or even microwaving), although it is conceivable that other cooking processes could be used such as grilling or baking. Once finally prepared, the pockets can be combined with other foods. Frequently, butter or sauces are applied onto the pockets, or the pockets can be eaten in conjunction with other condiments such as sour cream.
Despite their popularity, these foods are generally not considered or eaten as finger-food. Regardless of whether the pockets are fried or boiled/steamed (or otherwise finally prepared), the pockets can be uncomfortably hot to pick up with one's fingers when the pockets are served, since in some cases the interior stuffing tends to retain heat fairly well after the pockets have left the frying or boiling/steaming (or other preparation) process. Additionally, it is generally inconvenient to handle the pockets due to their bulbous shape and often slippery exterior (e.g., due to grease following frying, other moisture exuded by the pockets following the boiling/steaming process, or the butter, sauces or condiments applied to the pockets). In particular, when fried, the pockets are typically greasy on their outside. Consequently, if one attempts to pick up the pockets with one's fingers, one's hand may become undesirably oily. When boiled/steamed, the pockets will typically be less greasy but can be more fragile than when fried.
Because of these difficulties, pocket-foods tend to be eaten through the use of utensils. This in turn limits the pocket-foods to being eaten in environments in which utensils and conventional plates are available. Further, because significant cutting pressure is often required to cut pocket-foods with conventional forks and knives, the serving of pocket-foods using paper/plastic plates and plastic utensils is not ideal. Consequently, despite their popularity and good taste, pocket-foods largely remain the province of home-cooked meals and moderately-priced to upscale sit-down restaurants. Pocket-foods are generally not served in true fast-food restaurants, despite the fact that other foods having somewhat similar structures, particularly foods in which pre-cooked dough blankets akin to pancakes are wrapped around various food stuffings (e.g., burritos), are quite popular as fast foods.
Given the popularity of fast-foods generally and finger-foods that can be eaten without utensils in particular, and given that it is always desirable for consumers to have additional culinary/dietary options available to them, it would be advantageous if a new form of pocket-food could be created that avoided the above-described difficulties. In particular, it would be advantageous if such a new form of pocket-food was created that could be easily picked-up by a consumer using his or her fingers, where the heat transferred to the consumer's fingers from the food stuffings within the pockets was limited such that it was not uncomfortable to pick up the pockets. Further, it would be advantageous if the new form of pocket-food was designed in such a way that only a minimal amount of grease, moisture, or other residue would be transferred to the consumer's fingers when handling the pocket-food. It would additionally be advantageous if the new pocket-food, when prepared by way of boiling/steaming, had greater structural rigidity than conventional pocket-foods prepared by way of boiling/steaming.